Friday, May 24, 2013

Mission Wild -Stories of Lobo Recovery from the Field

Enormous
thanks to Wolf Conservation Center friend and supporter, Melissa
Ruszczyk, for sharing her experience working on lobo recovery in the
field.Mission Wild
by Melissa Ruszczyk
.

As a past U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) intern
for the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program, I enjoy keeping up with the
events and status of the program and wolf packs. Many may wonder how
the process goes from taking a wolf in captivity and getting it into the
wild. While there is a lot of preparation that I’m not involved in
months prior to a release or translocation, this is my account of the
big day itself and how the Half Moon Pack went from fences to freedom.When I heard there was to be a wolf pack release in Arizona and a
translocation (meaning they’ve had previous wild experience) in New
Mexico this spring, I contacted project personnel to see if they needed
any help. One week later I found myself at Sevilleta National Wildlife
Refuge, just south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where USFWS houses
Mexican wolves in a remote prerelease captive facility. There the wolves
have little contact with people and are not viewed by public in efforts
to keep them from becoming habituated to humans, and to promote pack
structure and wild behavior. Wolves F1108 (a pregnant adult female) and
M1133 (an adult male), newly dubbed the Half Moon Pack, had
successfully bred and were up for translocation into the Gila Wilderness
in New Mexico. Prior to my arrival, USFWS personnel had scouted
potential translocation sites in the Gila Wilderness with certain
criteria such as high prey density and water availability, and good
distances from human settlements and ranches. Once McKenna Park was
chosen as the site, a mesh pen was constructed to temporarily hold the
wolves. This type of pen allows for the wolves to chew through the mesh
and eventually release themselves. Although the wolves can chew through
at any time, they were translocated very close to F1108’s due date in
hopes she would give birth inside the pen and the pack would establish
territory in the area once they chewed out.

The
evening following my arrival, a convoy of vehicles including USFWS
personnel and interns, Ladder Ranch personnel, volunteers, and the film
crew for “The Last Pack: A Return to the Wild”, a documentary about
restoring Mexican wolves into the wild, arrived at the facility to
capture the wolf pair and prepare them for transportation and release
the next day.

After a briefing of capture methods, safety measures and precautions, the wolves were captured and muzzled
in their enclosure without sedation. Everyone worked together quickly
and calmly to administer subcutaneous fluids, vaccines, and fit each
wolf with a radio collar for future monitoring by aerial and ground
telemetry, and in the male’s case, GPS location downloads. Once the
wolves were both crated in large Vari-kennels, they were escorted by
USFWS personnel Sherry Barrett (Recovery Coordinator), Maggie Dwire
(Assistant Recovery Coordinator), Colby Gardner (Wildlife Biologist),
Susan Dicks, DVM (Wildlife Biologist), Julia Smith (Intern), and myself
through the dark about five hours away to the Gila Cliff Dwellings
National Monument where they would be packed into McKenna Park the next
morning on mules.

Upon
daybreak we met with Nick Smith, a former Mexican Wolf Biologist for
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and Jim Brooks, USFWS
Supervisory Fish Biologist, who would be leading the mules into McKenna
Park, about an 18 mile journey. Susan and Julia would be the first two
personnel riding in to camp and begin daily monitoring of the Half Moon
Pack after they were released into the mesh pen. As the mules were
prepped with camping gear and food, the wolves needed to be prepped for
the mule ride. We brought their crates into a barn where we could give
the wolves subcutaneous fluids again and transfer them from crates to
panniers which would be strapped to the sides of a specially trained
mule, Rooster. Shortly after, Nick and Jim arrived with seven mules.
Susan and Julia were fitted for their saddles, the wolves were loaded
on, we said our goodbyes, and the Half Moon Pack was off to McKenna
Park.As
reported from Susan and Julia, the wolves were checked on periodically
and did well along the way. When they reached the pen, the food, water,
and panniers were set inside with ropes tied to the pannier doors so
they could be pulled open from the outside of the pen. Once opened, the
wolves came out and ran around the pen exploring their new surrounding
and smells. Susan, Julia, Nick, and Jim left quickly to reduce their
exposure to the wolves and let them get settled. A few miles away was a
U.S. Forest Service cabin where Susan and Julia camped and hiked out
from each day to obtain radio signals using telemetry as the method to
monitor the wolves.

While
Susan and Julia were monitoring Half Moon, I spent the next few days in
the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area of New Mexico monitoring other
established packs. After three days, it was time to trade out with
Susan and Julia and also bring in more food and water for the wolves.
It was my turn to ride the18 miles in on a mule and joining me was USFWS
Wildlife Biologist Melissa Kreutzian for a five day stint of monitoring
F1108 and M1133. The day after Nick brought us in, he packed out Susan
and Julia.
Melissa
and I followed Susan and Julia’s routine of hiking up a steep slope of
switchbacks for about forty minutes until reaching an area where we
could receive signals from F1108’s collar. However, we would have to
hike another hour before we could pick up signals from M1133 even though
they were in the pen together. From where we could hear both signals
in McKenna Park, the pen was still approximately another forty-five
minute hike away. We stayed in the McKenna Park area for a few hours
before taking another listen for their signals to check if they had
changed or not. Upon confirmation of no change, we hiked back to the
cabin nestled in a canyon along the confluence of the West Fork of the
Gila River and White Creek. For two days we hiked up the mountain,
crossed some streams, and made it to McKenna Park without any change in
routine. The daily hikes included serene mountain vistas, herds of elk
running through the forest, bear tracks along the path, and the
occasional horned lizard. However, on the third day when we got to
McKenna Park, the receiver was silent. Melissa and I looked at each
other bewildered. I hopped up on a fallen log to increase my height in case the wolves’ collars
were blocked by something… still nothing. I gave it a minute, walked
around and listened again. Nothing. We decided it was time to hike to
the pen and do a visual observation to see what was going on. Along the
way we discussed potential reasons for no signals to be coming through
the receiver. Of course, the wolves chewing out was the first thought
but other ideas had come to mind such as equipment failure of the
collars or the telemetry receiver, or the wolves digging a den and their
signals being blocked by the surrounding dirt. About forty-five minutes
later we approached the pen slowly while continuing to check the
receiver for signals and looking through binoculars for any signs of
movement. After we were certain the wolves were not in the pen, we
walked around the outside and found a hole in the mesh where they had
chewed through. The Half Moon Pack was fully wild now! We walked around
looking for tracks and recording data about what we had found so we
could report back to the rest of the team later that evening via
satellite phone. On our two hour hike back to the cabin we tried
listening for the wolves with our telemetry in hopes of hearing them
somewhere in the area but we never did. Back at camp we contacted both
the Albuquerque, NM and Alpine, AZ offices to share the news. At dinner
that night we toasted our camp mugs by our fire pit and sent well
wishes for the new chapter in the lives of the Half Moon Pack.

The next seven days were filled with heavy monitoring of
the pack by aerial and ground telemetry and also by the location
downloads from the male’s collar to computers every few days. Right
away M1133 was on the move travelling further and further away from
McKenna Park and F1108, who had stayed near the release site. By the end
of the week he had trekked over 75 miles from McKenna Park and was out
of the recovery area in poor habitat, and surrounded by human
settlements, major roadways, and very little natural prey thus creating a
dangerous situation for his survival. Consequently, a week after
chewing through the mesh, a decision was made to recapture M1133 and
bring him back to Sevilleta NWR. As for F1108, she stayed near the
translocation area and is believed to be denning. She is still being
monitored by project personnel and efforts have been put forth to assist
her with food so she can sustain herself and also the pups. Even
though M1133 did not remain in the wild, his genetics will be passed on
into the wild population by the pups we hope F1108 will successfully
raise.

The experience of translocating F1108 and M1133 into the wild is one
that I’ll forever cherish and be thankful to be a part of. Even though
things did not go as planned, it’s reassuring to know that one more wolf
is on the landscape and in a pristine habitat that’s suitable for her
survival and the wellbeing of her pups. We have high hopes for F1108
and the future generations of Mexican gray wolves she will contribute to
the wild population.

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About Us

Located in South Salem, NY, the Wolf Conservation Center (www.nywolf.org) exists to educate people about wolves and their valuable role in the environment, and to help protect their future in the wild. The WCC is home to ambassador wolves that visitors can observe in spacious natural enclosures. We also have over 20 wolves as part of our participation in Species Survival Plans for critically endangered Mexican Gray Wolves and Red Wolves. To learn more about us or to arrange a visit, please go to our website and follow us on Facebook. Questions about the blog? Email us at nywolf.org@gmail.com